Theatrical Business Details Of Pongal/Sankranthi Releases

Chennai, January 10 - Four of the biggest stars of the Southern Indian film industry, Thalapathy Vijay, Ajith Kumar, Chiranjeevi, and Nandamuri Balakrishna, will be competing at the box office to attract audience eyeballs during one of the most lucrative Pongal/Sankranthi festival frames.

Thalapathy Vijay's Varisu, scheduled for January 11 release, is easily the biggest film this Pongal festival as far as the movie business is concerned. It will be up against Ajith Kumar's Thunivu at the Tamil box office and both the movies are having neck-to-neck numbers in the advance booking with "Varisu" marginally ahead at the moment.



Directed by Vamshi Paidipally and produced by Dil Raju, "Varisu" will need to perform strong legs at the box office as the break-even target for this family action drama film is on the higher side as compared to the other movies. The break-even target for the movie is approx. 155 crores share, which means, it will need to gross around 280 crores at the global box office.

The break-even target for "Varisu" seems too little higher given the fact that it will have to share screens with "Thunivu" which is also due on January 11 release. It will, however, fancy chances, thanks to Thalapathy Vijay who has a mighty impressive pull at the box office.

On the other hand, "Thunivu's" break-even target is close to 88 crores share or approx. 165 crores gross worldwide. Given how previous movies of Ajith Kumar have fared at the box office, "Thunivu" is in a comfortable position and is expected to be a profitable venture for the makers unless it meets a poor response from audiences.



Coming to the Telugu films, the producer for both movies, Chiranjeevi and Ravi Teja's Waltair Veerayya and Balakrishna's Veera Simha Reddy is Mythri Movie Makers. The studio has done well to manage things and negotiate with theaters to find ways to give a proper release to both films.

"Waltair Veerayya", directed by Bobby, has been valued at approx. 89 crores, similar to Chiranjeevi's last film "Godfather" which was an average affair at the box office. The trailer of the film met with a very good response from the audiences and the movie is expected to have a good run, at least, in the first few days. It is slated for January 13 release.

Cult star Nandamuri Balakrishna leads Gopichand Malineni's action drama "Veera Simha Reddy", alongside Shruti Haasan and Duniya Vijay, which is due a Jan. 12 release. NBK is coming after delivering the biggest blockbuster of his career in the form of "Akhanda" and he will be looking to repeat the same with the upcoming movie. It is valued at approx. 74 crores, the biggest release for the actor in terms of business.

Overall, over 400 crores are riding on the four Pongal/Sankranthi films and it will be interesting to see how these films fare in the crowded release.

Stay tuned...